Projects
A mycobacterium bovis BCG transposon insertion library as a tool to study the role of mycobacterial glycolipids and other components in pathogenesis. Ghent University
We aim at improving the protectieve efficacy of the M. bovis BCG vaccine against M.tb infection. We have generated an ordered M. bovis BCG transposon insertion library and selected mutants for further study. These mutants are characterizing biochemically and evaluated as TB vaccines in a stringent animal model. We're thoroughly studying immune responses upon infection, which mainly determine vaccine potential.
Archaeological desktop study Princess Elisabeth Zone BCP Flanders Marine Institute
Complex Dynamics in Society: An application of complexity studies on community formation in South West Anatolia during the Hellenistic Period (323-133 BC) KU Leuven
The main goal of this PhD research is to study community formation and development in southwestern Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) during the Iron Age, Achaemenid and (early to mid) Hellenistic periods (8th to 2nd centuries BCE). The main case studies are two neighbouring, contemporaneous communities, Sagalassos and Düzen Tepe. Findings on this local scale are then scaled up to treat community formation dynamics on a sub-regional scale – ...
Digital revolution in Belgian federal government: an open governance ecosystem for big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain. KU Leuven
Context:
Three contextual factors define the context by which DIGI4FED is influenced. The first factor is the growing attention for the potential impact of Big Data (BD) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) on traditional government information processes. The second factor is the growing expectation of society from public administrations, to adopt new technological means to advance efficient and effective governance and ...
Dying at the Margins of Athens: Burial Customs, Local Traditions, and Social Realities in the Attic deme of Thorikos (c. 900-300 BC) Ghent University
This research project will collect and evaluate all material and physical anthropological data from the cemeteries of Thorikos in an attempt to reconstruct social, ideological and political realities in this deme from the Early Iron Age (900 BC) to end of the Late Classical period (300 BC), especially in relation to the city of Athens. By adopting a multidisciplinary approach, following the latest developments in demographic studies, which ...
The interplay between language contact and language change in a fragmentary linguistic area: the Italic peninsula in the first millennium B.C.E. KU Leuven
This research project focuses on the languages spoken in the Italic peninsula in the first millennium B.C.E. (in particular, Latin, Etruscan, Oscan and Umbrian) and the insights they can provide into the process of language change. Linguists have long recognised that the spread of language innovations from one language variety to another is an integral part of all language change, but the conditions which determine whether or not an ...
A morphosyntactic and semantic analysis of the augment use and absence in the oldest Greek literary texts (800-500 BC). Ghent University
My investigation combines Classical Philology and historical linguistics. In several Indo-European languages, such as Greek, Armenian, Phrygian, Sanskrit and Iranian, the past tense form was built not only by using special endings but also by adding a prefix to the verbal form. This prefix is called the “augment” in Classical Philology and Indo-European scholarship. It was mandatory in Phrygian, in classical Greek and classical Sanskrit, but ...
Late Prehistoric (8000-2000 BC) communities in marginal landscapes. Investigating human-environment interactions in the Western Taurus Mountains, SW Turkey KU Leuven
Our current knowledge of Late Prehistoric (8000-2000 BC) communities in Anatolia is primarily based on evidence from a number of well-known settlements in areas suitable for agriculture. Next to nothing is known about sites in other landscape units such as marginal mountainous areas. The proposed research aims to fill this gap in knowledge by shedding light on how different landscape units were incorporated into the cultural landscape, ...
Performative patterns in the history of Greek (500 BCE – 600 CE) Ghent University
In modern languages, polite formulaic phrases often trace back to performative verbs (e.g. performative verbs of asking such as parakaló in Modern Greek, bitte in German or prego in Italian). Despite the communicative significance of these patterns nowadays, remarkably few researchers have investigated the significance of performatives in ancient languages such as Ancient Greek, even though they provide direct evidence of ancient ...